Vocabulary Making New Words Your Own By Kathy Adams

Context, Structure, Sound, Dictionary Strategy CSSD Example of Wordbusting Strategy Transcribe - After listening to her interview on audiotape, Tressa decided to transcribe it so she could accurately write her feature article.

Dictionary: “to write or type out a copy of, as from a speech or notes”

Hints for figuring out unknown words. Hint # 1 - Context: Look for clues to the meaning of the word in the sentence. For example, after signals cause and effect and helps reveal the meaning of transcribe. Hint # 2 - Structure: Examine the word parts for roots, prefixes and suffixes that you know. Hint # 3 - Sound: Say the word aloud and listen for any word parts you know. Hint # 4 - Dictionary: If you cannot determine a word’s meaning from applying context, structure, and sound strategies, look up the unfamiliar word in a dictionary. Read all the definitions and choose one that best fits the given sentence.

Context Clues How to answer context clue exercises. Hint # 1 Read Column B first, and look for clues to the meaning of the word. Hint # 2 You should scan Column A for a likely definition of the word. Hint # 3 As you write the word in the blank, say it to yourself to get a sense of the sound of the word.

Sentence Completion Sometimes you are asked to supply the missing vocabulary word or words in order to create a sentence that makes sense. Hint # 1 Think about the logic of the sentence. Hint # 2 Substitute the words in choice (A) through (E) in the sentence to see which pair of words completes the logic of the sentence.

As you complete these three types of exercises, you will develop the ability to make an educated guess about the meaning of a word by thinking about its context.